Pathogenic substitutions in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 protein (Lrrk2), R1441G and G2019S, are a prevalent cause of autosomal dominant and sporadic Parkinson's disease in the Northern Spanish population.
That the most prevalent mutation, G2019S, leads to increased kinase activity has led to a concerted effort to identify LRRK2 kinase inhibitors as a potential disease-modifying therapy for PD.
G2019S mutation frequency is rather low in overall patients (0.8%) and in the familial group (1.7%), suggesting that it may be an uncommon cause of PD in Southern Italy.
The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency of a single pathogenic mutation (6055G > A) in the kinase domain of this gene in United States and Tunisian familial PD and to compare clinical characteristics between patients with and without the mutation.
These results demonstrate biochemical abnormalities of alpha-synuclein, and increased oxidative stress damage and oxidative stress responses in the frontal cortex in PD linked with G2019S LRRK2 mutation not related with the presence of cortical LBs and in the absence of apparent cognitive deficits.
Mutations in the LRRK2 gene, the most frequent of which is the G2019S mutation in exon 41, cause familial and sporadic Parkinson's disease (PD) with reduced penetrance.